search by region
Pacific-West West Central Mid-West South-East North-East
  • Region
Pacific-West West Central Mid-West South-East North-East
  • Location
  • to search by radius, close this filter and enter a zip code in the search box above
  • Compensation
  • Type
  • Category
This job expired on December 27, 2020

2021 Crew Members! Wild Work Farm

  • Date Posted October 28, 2020
  • Location Keene Valley, NY
  • Category Agriculture
  • Job type Full-Time
Company description

Wild Work Farm is a three-acre, woman-owned farm that grows exceptional fruits and vegetables.  We have about an acre and a half in crops with another acre and a half in cover crop and perennials.  We're going into our fourth year of production and looking to strengthen our business, continue focusing on soil health, and work towards building a core group of employees.

WWF is located in the beautiful High Peaks region of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate NY.  The farm is at the north end of our little valley, meaning we have a beautiful and wild spot, surrounded by woods and mountains with the Ausable River on our western border.  The Adirondacks are New York's hidden gem - six million acres of rugged, unique park land and small towns. Wild Work Farm produces food for our town and the surrounding towns and is continuing a family tradition of growing food in the High Peaks on this piece of land. 

We grow a wide variety of annual vegetables in open field production, as well as in one heated greenhouse and one high tunnel. We have a small blueberry field, asparagus, raspberries and an experimental orchard. We are lucky to market our produce close to home - at farmers' markets, a market-style CSA share, and through local wholesale outlets. In 2020 we shifted largely towards custom produce orders placed through online marketing platforms. We have also begun to focus more on year-round production- increasing storage crops and striving for more productive tunnels.

Job description

We are looking for two people to help fill out our crew for the 2021 season.  We are more focused on finding the right people rather than filling specific job descriptions, and can tailor the role to suit the person. Ideally, we're looking for folks that might be interested in staying more than one year and are looking to grow with us.

Our crew members are involved in all aspects of the farm's production from seeding and planting, to soil preparation, cultivation and weeding, harvesting and post-harvest.  You'll be participating in all the auxiliary tasks as well, like moving irrigation, packing orders, washing totes, and mowing. We are a small farm and we do most of our bed prep by hand and with a BCS, all of our cultivation by hand, and all of our harvesting by hand.  

As with all farm work, there will be difficult tasks as well as those that are repetitive.  We keep our day length reasonable, but we do work very quickly and efficiently during that time. You should be prepared to spend all day outside, in all kinds of weather, and to pace yourself for busy 8-hour days on the farm. You should be prepared for physical work!  We try to make tasks as ergonomic as possible and are always improving, but farm work is physical and you should expect to spend extended periods of time bending over, lifting heavy items, or performing repetitive tasks.

We require prior farm experience because we would like to attract folks who understand the nature and the pace of produce work. We are looking for people who are organized and have developed produce farm 'soft skills' like attention to detail and careful observation, how to move from one task to another, how to work with a sense of urgency, and how to pace yourself over a day and a season.  That said, a mastery of systems is not necessary. Every farm is different, and we will happily train you in our methods of planting, cultivation, harvest and post-harvest.

At WWF, we are a small team, consisting of just four people. We want to have a fun and productive work environment, so we prioritize building a functional team of folks we think will work well together and enjoy each others company. The best fit for this job will be someone who finds joy and pleasure in hard work, a job well done, and in constantly striving to do a job better or more efficiently with a team.  If this is you, get in touch!

Required Qualifications/Qualities
- 2+ years experience on a vegetable farm, preference for multiple years on the same farm
- Valid drivers' license (preferred clean driving record!)
- Ability to lift 50 lbs. safely
- Flexible and adaptable with a can-do, positive attitude!
- Ability to balance attention to detail with efficiency and to work quickly
- Excellent communication skills including the ability to talk through directions for a task or process and ask for clarification where needed. 

-Ability to give and receive feedback.

Desired Qualifications/Qualities
- Desire to learn and grow, both personally and professionally 
- Interest in working multiple seasons with us

These positions are seasonal and start part-time in April or May, running through the end of October with very part-time work into November and December. There is room for flexibility and growth in the seasonal schedule and we will work with the right people to create a schedule and hours that work for them.  Full-time for us means 32-40 hours per week mid-summer plus the occasional weekend chores with fewer hours in the shoulder seasons.  We do have room in our crew for one part-time person.

Other benefits: Paid Family Leave as per NYS regulation, Workers Compensation, and one week paid vacation after one season of full-time work.  All employees get access to farm seconds, plus a market share value TBD.  Selling produce is how we pay the bills!  Employees should be prepared to have limited access to higher-value crops or those that are in short supply at any given time.  Because we are on leased land, we cannot provide housing, but will help you find housing locally if needed.

Compensation this position is : hourly Application instructions
This job expired on December 27, 2020
Deadlineno deadline

Share this job